Lake Butler shooter left suicide note, sheriff says

Members of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement crime scene unit investigate the scene where Hubert Allen Jr. was found. Authorities believe he killed two people and injured two others before taking his own life.

Published: Monday, August 26, 2013 at 4:09 p.m.

Last Modified: Monday, August 26, 2013 at 10:35 p.m.

The Lake Butler man who investigators say shot and killed two men and wounded two more before killing himself on Saturday left behind a hand-written note naming his intended victims, authorities said on Monday.

Hubert Allen Jr.'s note named the four targets in his shooting spree, but it did not reveal any motive, according to Union County Sheriff Jerry Whitehead.

After three days of interviews with people who knew Allen, investigators said they are no closer to answering the question of why Allen gunned down his former friends and co-workers.

The 72-year-old Allen, described by a local minister as “a real quiet guy'' who “wouldn't have a grudge against anyone,'' had worked for decades for Marvin Pritchett at Pritchett Trucking Inc.

Starting around 9 a.m. Saturday, Allen drove to Pritchett's property on County Road 18, some of the thousands of acres that Pritchett owned, where he encountered Rolando Gonzalez-Delgado, 28.

Allen fired several times, killing his former co-worker.

He then went a short distance to where Pritchett, 80, was on his way to bottle feed some calves. Allen shot and killed him.

Minutes later, Allen confronted another former employee driving a farm tractor on County Road 18A. Allen pulled over and talked with Lewis Mabrey Jr., 66, before firing one shot from his .410 shotgun, hitting Mabrey in the left arm and side.

Mabrey was taken by Union County Emergency Medical Services to UF Health Shands Hospital where he underwent surgery for a broken arm and other injuries. Mabrey was listed in good condition on Monday.

Allen then went to Pritchett Trucking Co. at 1050 SE Sixth St. in Lake Butler and shot another co-worker, David Griffis, 44, in the abdomen. Griffis was rushed to Shands, where he remains in critical condition after several surgeries.

Allen then returned to the home where he had lived alone after his wife died in the 1990s and shot himself. Investigators recovered a .22-caliber rifle, a .410 small bore shotgun and an unfired .32-caliber handgun.

Allen, the step-grandfather of Buffalo Bills running back C.J. Spiller, had never been in trouble with the law before, Whitehead said. Friends said that he had been ill recently, possibly with heart problems.

On Sunday and Monday, LifeSouth Community Blood Center set up in various locations in Lake Butler to receive blood donations for Griffis.

Pritchett owned the trucking company and Nextran Truck Center, a network of full-service truck centers along major highways in Florida, Georgia and Alabama.

Services for Pritchett, who leaves behind two sons and a daughter, will be at First Christian Church of Lake Butler on Friday at 2 p.m.

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